


Roombros

by AwkwardPotatoChild



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Comedy, Drinking, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Homophobic Language, Humor, I'm so bad at this, M/M, Partying, Prank Wars, Underage Drinking, i guess, i mean it's technically not??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 23:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11794113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardPotatoChild/pseuds/AwkwardPotatoChild
Summary: "And we were roombros.""Oh my god. You were roombros."





	Roombros

**Author's Note:**

> I live!!
> 
> I'm not dead, friends, and I'm sorry it took so long! If you've been following my tumblr for updates, you'll know that it's been a very busy last couple of weeks for me, but somehow, I got this done! Yes!
> 
> Anyway, someone on tumblr sent in the following request:
>
>> So so so. If you're still accepting requests, how about a craig/dadsona (your Ray is awesome btw) fic but like. Back in their college days (or good ol' College AU I guess) wild young adults duo doing crazy shit and pulling redbull stunts. But get this. Wild, cindery eye contacts appear at every corner. And that level of pining. Not just any air freshener Bro. DORM air freshener. PINE scented. BRO. I'm positively beseeching you rn??? Please.
> 
> I know this didn't fully cover your request, anon, but I hope you like it anyway. Thank you so very much for your patience. I did my best, but I was not and still am not a wild college student. I'm just a sad potato who spends more time with 100 year old books than with actual people. XP
> 
> Anyway, all of mine and NeverBeenSane's Dadsona profiles are now up, so you can learn more about Ray [here](http://dangcommaannie.tumblr.com/post/164064745621/name-ray-castillo-basically-the-main-dadsona-in) and our other Dadsonas [here](http://dangcommaannie.tumblr.com/post/164064745621/name-ray-castillo-basically-the-main-dadsona-in)!
> 
> I still don't have a beta, so if there are any mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know.  
> Enjoy!

Ray sat his computer, typing away. The person next to him had been staring at him intently for the last couple of minutes, but he did his best to ignore them. He tried to focus on the work in front of him, but he knew she wouldn’t let up, knew she wouldn’t stop. He’s known her all of her life after all and he was certain she got that stubbornness from him.

“Daaaaad?”

Ray finally sighed and turned to face. He pretended to give her an exasperated look, but from the cheeky grin on Amanda’s face, they both knew that Ray wasn’t serious right now.

“What is it, Amanda?”

Amanda rested her elbows her his desk and her face in her hands, squishing her cheeks adorable.

“Will you  _ finally  _ tell me about what college was like for you and Craig? Pleeease?”

Ray chuckled and shook his head. He turned to face her fully.

“Manda Panda, why is this so interesting to you?”

“Because I’m in college now and I want to know how it’s done! I want to know about all of the crazy things you and Craig got into! Also, I want to know how you and Craig started out. I mean, best friends who would one day meet up years after college and then get together and have an awesome family with the four best daughters ever? It’s like a dream come true, Dad.”

Ray laughed once again and Amanda smiled even more. He finally got his laughter under control and looked at Amanda. He knew he should’ve been working, but once he saw the pleading look in her eyes, Ray knew he couldn’t say no to her. He gave another faux exasperated sigh and relented.

“Fine. I guess I needed a break anyway.

“Yes!” exclaimed Amanda. She did a little happy dance at getting her wish fulfilled. “Finally!”

Ray shook his head and waited for Amanda to settle down. Once seated, she gave him an expectant look, waiting for him to begin, giddy with anticipation.

“Alright. Well, it started when we met during freshman year.”

* * *

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ray waited a beat, hoping for an answer, but nothing. He couldn’t wait for his transfer request to be approved already. It’s a wonder he’s been able to last this long, but everyone had their limits and enough was enough. He sighed, turning his hand into a fist again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Chad! Open the door! You borrowed my keys earlier and never gave them back!” Ray jiggled the doorknob, hoping that some sort of miracle would make the door open, but alas. It was useless. “I know you’re in there! Just let me in already! I have to get to class!”

Ray hit the door one last time before giving an exasperated groan. He leaned his back against the door and let himself slide into a sitting position on the ground. He glared at the door in front of him. This roommate transfer couldn’t come soon enough. When he and Chad had met that first day, Ray wanted to believe that the frat boy stereotypes weren’t true since he actually seemed like a decent guy. Being a year older than him, Ray hoped Chad could impart some upperclassmen wisdom to him and help him make it through his freshmen year without too much trouble. Too bad that all went to shit only a few days later when Ray woke up and stepped into a pile of something questionable with a half-dressed roommate passed out on the floor. He thought it was just a one time thing, but a fortnight after that and he was still going strong. It’s not that Ray was opposed to partying, having gone to a few of them himself, but going to frat parties every night was just too much for him. Ray didn’t know why he was still being cordial to the guy, but he had finally had enough. He submitted the request to switch roommates a few days ago and he knew he hadn’t been waiting long, but god! Ray needed to leave this place already!

Ray startled and looked up when he realized that the door he had been staring at was starting to open. He met eyes with a guy who looked as if he could be best friends with his stupid roommate and he felt himself growing angry. He wanted to snap at the guy, but once he saw the guy leaning sleepily against his doorframe and how his hair was sticking up every which way, Ray realized that his yelling from earlier had probably woken him up from his afternoon nap or something. Ray suddenly felt guilty, understanding how much it sucked to be woken up in the midst of a well-needed nap, and bit back his snarky comment.

“Bro?” asked the guy. Sleep was still evident in his voice. He yawned and stretched before looking down at Ray who was still seated on the floor.

“Hey, dude,” said Ray. “Sorry if I woke you up or something. My douchebag of a roommate locked me out, so yeah. Sorry about that. I’ll try to keep it down.”

“Nah, bro.” The guy waved a hand dismissively and gave Ray a sleepy smile. “It’s cool. I understand. I actually came out to see if you were doin’ alright.”

Ray’s eyes widened in surprised and he gave a surprised look. “Oh. Uh, yeah, no worries, dude. I’ll be alright.”

“Alright. Cool, bro,” nodded the guy. He was about to return to his room, but glanced over his shoulder to give Ray one last look. “But if you need a better place to wait for your roommate, let me know. I’ve got a pretty comfy set of bean bags.”

The guy moved to close the door and Ray watched as he did so. He seemed to purposely move slower than needed, giving Ray time to think about his offer. Having only sat down for a few minutes, Ray was already feeling the effects of sitting on the ground in his lower back and quickly got up.

“Wait!”

The guy seemed to have anticipated this and gave Ray a smile. He opened the door fully and gestured to the room. Ray nodded and walked towards him, into the room.

“Come on in, bro, and have a seat. You have your choice of a blue or red bean bag today.”

Ray looked around the room with curiosity. It showed clear signs of being the dorm room of a college boy, but was also surprisingly neat as well. Ray spotted the bean bags in the corner and sat down in the red one, letting himself be engulfed by it. He watched as the guy moved a couple of textbooks and placed them in front of the door. Once satisfied, he turned and walked towards the mini-fridge in the other corner and grabbed two cans of soda.

“Figured I’d just leave the door open, so you can see when your roommate finally pops up, bro.”

Ray nodded at this. The guy walked over to where Ray was sitting and settled himself into the other bean bag.

“Cool. Thanks, uh...”

Ray realized he had no idea who this guy was, despite them being neighbors. He didn’t seem bothered at all and only smiled as he handed Ray one of the sodas.

“Craig.”

“Ray.”

They both smiled at each other amicable. Ray was worried about having an awkward conversation with Craig as they waited, but he found himself getting along well with Craig. The conversation flowed naturally as they got to know each other and before long, neither of them had noticed that it was practically night time when Chad decided to finally let Ray into their room.

* * *

“Wait. I thought you said you never had any bad roommates,” interrupted Amanda.

“I did?”

Amanda nodded. “Pretty sure you did, Dad.”

“Oh,” said Ray. “Guess I forgot about Chad since Craig ended up being a really great roommate.”

“You’re also getting old, so your memory is just getting worse.” Ray turned to glare at Amanda who smiled innocently. “Continue.”

Ray sighed. “Anyway!”

* * *

Ray stood in front of the door with all of his things surrounding him. It took a bit of time, but campus housing finally approved his transfer request and he was moving in with his new roommate today. When he had read the name of his new roommate, he wondered if it could really be the same guy who had kindly invited him after getting locked out by Chad, but nothing was confirmed until Ray read the room number and realized that yes, he and Craig were now roommates.

After their first meeting, he and Craig spoke more frequently, often running into each other in the hallways. They had found out that they were in the same sociology class that was required for most majors and were happy to have someone familiar in the large lecture class. They quickly became close friends, learning more about each other and making plans to hang out more often as well. Ray had explained his roommate situation to Craig and found out that Craig’s roommate had dropped out during the first week of school due to personal issues, so Craig was actually living without a roommate. They had joked about how awesome it would be for them to room together, but they both knew it was up to campus housing to decide now since Ray had already submitted the request. But fate was on their side and now, Ray stood before Craig’s door, looking forward to their next adventure together.

Giddy with anticipation and feeling as if it were his first day again, Ray raised a hand to knock at the door. As if he had been waiting for him all day, the door opened immediately and Ray was met with the sight of Craig’s familiar smile.

“Bro.”

“Bro.”

Craig opened his arms and gave Ray the typical bro hug before stepping aside. He gestured toward the room like he had the first time the met and Ray smiled recalling the memory.

“Welcome home, bro.”

“Thanks, bro.”

Ray moved to grab the rest of his things in, but Craig reached for them before he could get to them. Ray opened his mouth to protest, but Craig shook his head.

“Nuh uh, bro. Since you had a shit roomie, I’m determined to be the best roomie you’ll ever have, dude. So just let me get this for you.”

Ray chuckled, shook his head, and whispered his thanks. He knew it was pointless to argue and made his way inside the familiar room. Since Chad was still a douche, Ray had often found himself hanging out with Craig in his room instead of his own and now, it was going to be their room. He set his things down on the bed that used to be for when he wanted to lounge about, but was now officially his own. Craig placed the rest of his things on the bed and looked at him with an excited look, glancing up at the wall behind him. Curious as to what was there, Craig turned around and laughed with delight at what he saw. On a few sheets of printer paper that were taped together, Craig had written “Welcome home!” in bubble letters and colored them in with a highlighter, no doubt the closest thing he had to a marker. Surrounding them were a few clear balloons that were taped to the wall as well. Ray smiled at Craig’s attempt to make him feel welcomed. He stared happily at the letters before moving onto the balloons, which he now realized looked a bit longer than usual and oddly familiar. Ray turned to Craig and pointed at the balloons.

“Are those-?”

“Yeah,” said Craig. He looked away sheepishly. “I didn’t have time to run to the store and get balloons and other decorations, and none of the other guys in the hall had anything, but I got some condoms from them and well. They kinda work?”

Ray couldn’t help but laugh at this and soon, Craig joined in as well. Once their laughter died down, Ray pulled Craig into a one-armed hug, which Craig happily returned.

“I love it, bro. Thanks. It means a lot to me.”

“No problem, bro.”

Craig pulled away and clapped his hands together.

“Alright! Room tour time, bro!” He walked over to the front door and gestured to it dramatically. “This here is your new front door. It lets you, not only enter your new room, but also leave it as well! It comes with a doorknob and lock for all of your privacy needs!”

Both Craig and Ray laughed heartily at this, clutching their stomachs at Craig’s antics.

“Bro,” struggled Ray. “I’m here all the time. I already practically live here, bro. You don’t need to do this, dude.”

“Nuh uh, bro,” said Craig as he shook his head. “It’s not official until we do a room tour.”

Ray decided not to argue once again and Craig carried on with the tour. His explanation for things in the room seemed to grow even more ridiculous as they continued on and it didn’t help that, at some point, Ray decided to play along as well and throw in his own cheesy informercial commentary to things. Once finished, Craig helped Ray unpack and organize his things, making the process move along quickly. They finished in no time at all and soon found themselves sitting in the bean bag chairs with sodas, just like they had the first time they met. They both gave tired sighs and turned to look at each other with content grins.

“It’s gonna be an awesome year, bro,” said Craig.

“Hell yeah, bro. Hell yeah.”

* * *

“Awwww,” cooed Amanda. “That’s so sweet.”

Ray chuckled as he recalled the memory. “Yeah. Craig’s the best. He really made that first year great.”

“And you guys were so in love already.”

“What?” Ray turned to Amanda with a surprised look. “No, we weren’t.”

Amanda scoffs and crosses her arms. “You guys totally were, Dad. I mean, who does that for a guy they just met?”

“We were not, Amanda.” He paused. “I mean, I thought Craig was pretty cute, but he wasn’t into me then. He was just being a good roommate.”

“Uh huh. Sure, Dad. Sure.”

Ray shook his head.

* * *

Craig and Ray’s first party together wasn’t too long after that. Craig liked to party, like every other college boy, but unlike Chad, he understood that you don’t need to show up to class hungover everyday to prove that you were cool. They had been invited by Kyle, one of the upperclassmen in their sociology class. He was one of the frat boy types, but was seemingly less of a douche than Chad. Wanting to look cool and hopefully hook up with one of the upperclassmen girls, Craig and Ray accepted the offer, loudly cheering and high-fiving each other when they got back to their dorm room that day. The party would’ve been memorable enough since it was their first party together, but it was also there that Craig earned himself the nickname Keg-Stand Craig.

Luckily, the house where the party was at wasn’t too far from where their dorm room was located, which meant they didn’t have to worry about finding a ride home or having to awkwardly pass out on the dirty ground with a group of other drunken guests. By the time they arrived, the party was already going and they grabbed a couple of beers to catch up with the drunken crowd. It didn’t take long for them to get drunk, impairing judgement and blinding them of reasoning. Things seemed to be going well though and the party seemed to have reached its peak, but that also meant things could only go down from there.

Craig was playing another round of beer pong, but Ray felt he was done with the game for the night. He stood beside Craig, cheering him on as he got the ball into another cup, when he spotted someone familiar. Across the room was Chad, sitting on a couch. He had a cup of whatever his choice of alcohol was in one hand, while the other hand was placed on the thigh of the girl next to him and was slowly moving up. From how he staggered about, he was clearly drunk and from how the girl was trying to shove his hand off and move away, she clearly wasn’t interested in him either. Ray didn’t have to say anything to Craig, simply nudging his shoulder and nodding, before heading over to where Chad and the girl were sitting.

“Yo! Chad! My dude!” shouted Ray.

He got Chad’s attention like he wanted and his former roommate looked in his direction, trying to identify who had called his name. The girl next to him realized that this was his chance to escape and sped off the moment he took his eyes off of her. She gave Ray a grateful nod as she ran off to another room. Chad was still trying to figure out what had just happened, but seeing how drunk he was, Ray figured he could probably avoid a confrontation.

“Oh. Sorry, dude. Thought you were someone else!”

Ray turned around and headed back over to Craig. He thought that would be the end of that, but turns out Chad wasn’t done with their conversation just yet.

“Hey! What the hell, man?!”

Ray froze, but turned around calmly. He took a sip from his cup, trying to calm his nerves.

“Hey. Sorry, dude. I thought you were someone else. Didn’t meant to bother.”

This seemed to make Chad even angrier. He got up from the couch with a growl, not caring if he spilled his drink or not, and stomped over to Ray. Once close enough, he shoved Ray roughly, spilling the rest of his drink onto him.

“What the hell, man?! I was totally about to score with that chick!”

“Listen, dude.” Ray held up his hands. “I already said I was sorry. I thought you were someone else and-”

Chad cut him off with another shove. He was getting angrier now and looked ready to throw a few punches. Ray definitely didn’t want to get into a fight and he definitely didn’t want to have to deal with the authorities later. He tried to back up away from Chad and spoke to him calmly.

“Hey. I’m sorry, dude. I told you I didn’t mean to-”

“She was totally into me, man! Why’d you have to fuck it up for me?!”

Ray could see Chad’s hand turn into a fist and took another step back. Shit. Shit. Shit. Ray knew he had to do something, but no one seemed to be paying attention to them. Everyone was too drunk to care and they all probably thought this was just what happened at college parties anyway. Ray caught sight of Chad pulling back, getting ready to punch him. He closed his eyes and put his hands up to prepare for the hit, but it never came. Opening his eyes slowly, Ray saw someone standing between him and Chad. It took him a moment, but he realized it was Craig. Chad somehow managed to register that Craig wasn’t Ray and stopped his fist mid-air.

“Hey, dude,” said Craig. His tone was casual, but from how his arms were crossed, it was clear he wasn’t happy about what was going on. “What’s going on with you and my bro?”

Chad gave Craig a shove. “Your bro over there? Yeah. He just fucked up my chances to score tonight! She was ready to get it on!”

Chad tried to reach around Craig for Ray, but Craig placed an arm out to stop him.

“Really, dude? Because I’m pretty certain he said he was sorry about that. Also, how interested was that chick if she ran off the first moment she got?”

Chad growled. “Once again, maybe if your bro hadn’t interrupted, she wouldn’t have run off!”

“Alright. I get that, dude,” said Craig. “But I think that’ll be the end of it. My bro said he was sorry. If you really think that girl was into you, you can go get her yourself.”

“Fuck you, man!” shouted Chad. He was growing redder with each second. “Fuck you and your bro!”

Ray placed a hand on Craig’s shoulder. “Bro, thanks for the help, but we should just get outta here. This shit ain’t worth it, bro.”

Craig turned his head around. He could see how concerned Ray was and he agreed. Getting into a fight with this guy was definitely not worth it. He turned back to Chad.

“Dude, we’re sorry, but we gotta go. It’s gettin’ late for us. We’re sorry again. See ya, dude.”

Craig started to head towards the door and Ray followed after him. They both shared anxious looks, hoping that Chad would let this rest, but the guy was drunk, horny, and pissed off and he was ready to let off some steam. Before either of them could comprehend it, Chad had grabbed a couple of cups of beer and thrown them at them. Ray shuddered feeling the cold beer run down the back of his shirt. He looked over at Craig and could he see he was doing everything he could to keep calm. He seemed to be doing alright, until Chad grabbed another drink and dumped it on his head instead. Ray gasped, immediately going over to Craig. He placed his hands on Craig’s shoulders, hoping to calm him down, but the anger was prevalent in Craig’s eyes. A crowd was starting to form around them, sensing that a fight was on its way.

“Bro, calm down. It’s not worth it, bro,” said Ray. “It’s not worth it. Let’s just go home, bro. He’s not worth it.”

Craig looked down for a moment, contemplating Ray’s words. He finally nodded and Ray gave him a small smile. They continued walking towards the door again, but Chad still had one last thing to say.

“Yeah! Go home and have fun with your bro, faggot!”

Both Craig and Ray froze at the sound of the slur. A murmur ran through the crowd surrounding them. Craig and Ray glanced at each other. Ray wasn’t fond of being called that, but he shook his head. It’s not worth it, bro. He tried to mentally send that message to Craig, but it was too late. Craig was already turning around, shoving Chad into the crowd. This only seemed to fuel them on more.

“Apologize, dude,” said Craig lowly. He walked over to Chad and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him in and glaring at him. “Apologize to my bro.”

Ray had never seen Craig this angry and it was exactly what Chad wanted. He smiled, egging him on further.

“Or what, man? You and your fag bro gonna fuck my ass? You’d like that wouldn’t you!”

Pow!

Ray and the crowd all gasped, not expecting Craig to actually punch Chad in the face. Ray was immediately by Craig’s side, trying to pull him back as Craig checked his knuckles.

“Bro! What are you doing?! I told you he’s not worth it!”

“Yeah. Well, he shouldn’t have said that, bro. He can’t say shit like that.”

Ray sighed. He looked at Craig with a mixture of concern, disapproval, and understanding. He agreed with Craig, but given the circumstances, this was only going to get worse for them. Having regained his composure, Chad was even more pissed off now. With a growl, he launched himself at Craig, fists raised as he tried to aim for his face. Ray pulled away in astonishment, but went back in to try and pull the two of them apart, struggling to make any progress. Craig was able to block a good number of hits and landed a couple himself, but Ray winced every time he heard Craig groan in pain. The crowd heckled and jeered as they watched the ongoing fight.

“Woah! Woah! Gentlemen!”

Everyone froze and turned around at the voice that rose above the crowd and the music. The crowd parted and out walked Kyle. He walked over and pulled apart Craig and Chad with ease, placing an arm around their shoulders to keep them from attacking each other again. He smiled at them coolly, as if they hadn’t been trying to rip each other’s throats out a second ago.

“Gentlemen, Chad specifically, you know my parties have a no fighting policy.”

Chad mumbled something that Ray couldn’t catch before trying to launch himself at Craig again. Kyle anticipated this and calmly held him back. The grip he had on Chad’s shoulder visibly tightened.

“No, gentlemen, the first rule of a Kyle party is that all arguments must be resolved in one way and one way only.”

He paused and smirked. He turned towards the crowd. They all buzzed with excitement, all aware of what was to come. Craig and Ray glanced at each other with confusion. They looked over at Chad who now had a smug look on his face.

“Keg Off!!”

The crowd went wild with yelling and cheers. They all began chanting and screaming in anticipation for what was to come. Chad had pulled away from Kyle and was high-fiving some of his friends. All of them patting his back and telling him that he totally had this in the bag. Still uncertain of what was going on, Craig turned to Kyle and asked him what exactly a keg off was. Ray listened in next to them.

“It’s simple, man. You and Chad over there are going to be doing keg-stands. Last one standing wins.”

Craig nodded and turned towards Ray who shrugged. It didn’t sound too bad. Craig hadn’t had too much to drink, but Ray knew he could hold his alcohol pretty well. He wasn’t the buffest dude, but he could hold his own. It wouldn’t be that bad. Craig would be fine.

“However,” continued Kyle, “Chad over there has earned himself a, uh, a little nickname.”

“Nickname?” asked Ray.

“Yeah. He’s known as Keg-Stand Chad. No one knows the exact number, but he’s done an ungodly number of keg-stands during his time here. I don’t think there’s been anyone that’s beaten him so far.”

Craig and Ray glanced at each other with worry. Alright. This might be worse than they thought it would be. Kyle only smiled and patted Craig’s shoulder before leaving to prepare for the Keg Off.

“Anyway, good luck, newbie!”

In no time at all, two kegs were prepared and set up in Kyle’s living room. Chad was standing at one with his group of friends cheering him on. The crowd was loudly calling his name as well since he was the clear favorite. Craig was at the other. There were less people cheering him and more of them booing, but Ray was there and that helped Craig’s mood exponentially. He placed a comforting hand on Craig’s shoulder, squeezing.

“You alright, bro?”

“Yeah,” said Craig. “I mean, as long as I don’t puke, it should be alright. Right, bro?”

“Yeah. Totally. Definitely, bro. Definitely.”

“Yeah, bro. Yeah.”

They both nodded at each other vigorously, trying to show that they believed their words, but it was obvious that there was a very small chance that Craig was going to be alright. He had a size advantage compared to Chad, but in terms of alcohol tolerance, they weren’t certain of where Craig was in comparison. Ray had to bet that Chad won that battle since the guy seemed to always be drunk whenever Ray saw him, but he was banking on the fact that Chad was wavering a bit due to the amount of alcohol he had earlier in the night.

The yelling grew louder when Kyle finally stepped into the circle and between the two of them. He gave a dramatic bow to crowd, raising their mood even higher. Craig glanced over at Chad, trying to remain calm. Chad gave a smug smirk and ran his thumb across his throat. Craig looked at Ray for support, but he looked just as rattled as he did.

“Alright! Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready for a Keg Off?!”

“WHOOO!!!”

“In this corner,” Kyle gestured to his left, “is our returning champion, the one, the only, Keg-Stand Chad!”

The crowd roared as Chad raised a fist into the air. Ray couldn’t imagine how anxious Craig must be feeling right now.

“And in the other corner,” Kyle gestured to his right, “a newcomer! Introducing Craig!”

Craig raised a hand and waved, not sure of what else to do. The crowd mainly booed, yelling insults, but a few sparse cheers were scattered around as well. Kyle turned back to both of them smiling.

“Rules since Craig is new here. You can have one person help you get up, but once time starts, no one can help you. Time starts the moment both of you are up. No cheating. We’ll know. There’s a whole crowd of us here. Last one standing wins. Clear?”

Craig and Chad nodded.

“Then, get yourselves up there.”

Having done this multiple times, Chad got up easily, barely needing any help from his friend who looked about ready to throw up and then pass out in his own pile of puke. Craig struggled a bit, but with Ray’s help, he was able to get up easily. With both of them up, Kyle pulled out his phone, readying the timer.

“Alright. Ya ready?”

They nodded and the crowd cheered.

“Then, on your mark, get set, DRINK!”

With that, Ray stepped away from Craig, letting him stand on his own. The crowd around them grew crazy with excitement as they call began chanting Chad’s name. Both started out strong, neither of them wavering for more than a moment. Ray could see that Craig was trying as hard as he could, grip tight, while Chad seemed as if this was just a walk in the park. Craig wavered ever so slightly and Ray gasped in concern.

“Come on, bro! You can do this!”

Looking eyes with Ray, Craig nodded as best as he could given his position, suddenly hit by the words of encouragement. He closed his eyes, focusing himself on the task before him, blocking out the crowd and their insults and booing. Ray looked over at Chad who was still going strong, but Ray noticed a slight shaking in his arms as he struggled to stay on for longer. He assumed it was because Chad probably had more to drink than Craig had before the keg off and he hoped that would soon work in their favor. He looked back at Craig and continued his cheering.

“You got this, bro! You totally got this! I believe you, bro! You can do it!”

It happened in a flash. One second, Ray was cheering and yelling, trying to drown out the sound of the crowd for Craig. The next, everything was silent. He looked around for the reason why, wondering if maybe someone had gotten hurt or passed out in the crowd, maybe the cops had arrived to shut down the party. Instead, Ray stared in bewilderment when he realized that Chad was now passed out on the ground, leftover beer and a puddle of vomit next to him. He was still breathing and his friends didn’t seem all too worried as they tried to stand him back up. Ray looked back up realizing what this all meant. He couldn’t believe that things had worked out in their favor and neither had the crowd. Craig didn’t seem to notice the lack of sound, too engrossed in his current task as he continued maintaining his hand stand on the keg. Ray felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kyle giving Craig and amused smile.

“Congrats to your friend, man” he said before moving into the circle to prepare for when he had to address the crowd. Ray continued to stare with wide eyes.

“He won?” Ray shook his head in disbelief before his face broke out into a wide grin. “He fucking won?”

Kyle turned and smiled his way, confirming that this was indeed happening. He turned back towards the crowd and gestured towards Craig who was still going somehow. Too excited for Craig, Ray went over and pulled him down. He excitedly patted Craig’s back, jumping up and down with excitement. Craig leaned against Ray, bleary with confusion and alcohol, wondering why he was no longer drinking or upside down.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” yelled Kyle. “As you can see, it seems we have a new champion in our midst. So give it up for who is undoubtedly the coolest freshman that I have ever met, your new Keg Off Champion, Keg-Stand Craig!”

He lifted Craig’s arm into the air and the crowd went ballistic with excitement, even louder than when Chad’s name had been mentioned. Everyone was now chanting Craig’s name instead. Kyle patted Craig on the back, offering him his congratulations and many of the other party guests did so as well. Craig was still out of it and looked around wildly trying to figure out what was happening and where he was. Ray laughed at this, giddy with excitement before patting Craig’s shoulder.

“Bro!” exclaimed Ray.

“Bro?” Craig asked. He squinted, trying to focus on one of ten different Rays in front of him. “Did I do it, bro?”

“Yeah, bro! You fucking did it, bro!”

Upon hearing this, Craig sobered up briefly. His eyes widening in understanding and the grin on his face now matched Ray’s.

“Bro! Seriously?!”

“Yeah, bro! You fucking did it! Chad passed out and you won, dude! You’re the Keg Off champ, bro!”

“Bro!”

“Bro!”

The roommates hugged each other, patting each other on the back. Both of them were unable to believe that this had actually happened. Ray continued to shower Craig with admiration as Craig tried to explain everything that had happened to him.

“Congrats, man. Didn’t expect you to actually do it, but not bad for a freshmen. Glad I decided to invite you guys.”

The both turned to towards Kyle who had come by to properly offer his congratulations now that the crowd had died down and had gone back to partying. He held out a hand towards Craig who reached out and shook.

“Thanks for inviting us,” said Craig. “Sorry for starting a fight at your party, dude. We really didn’t mean to.”

Kyle shrugged. “Pft! It’s alright, man. Shit happens.” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Between you and me, I was kinda hoping you’d win.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Chad’s a fucking douche and I never really cared for him. Been waiting for someone to finally beat him.” He suddenly smirked. “Maybe I got impatient and finally had to do something about it.”

Ray and Craig both looked at each other with wide eyes and turned back to Kyle who was smiling innocently. Did he...rig this? He held a finger up to his lips, asking them to keep quiet and they both nodded. He pulled away and patted both of their shoulders before walking off.

“Anyway, I got a party to run still, so see ya around, Keg-Stand Craig! See ya later, Ray!”

After that, Craig and Ray decided that they had enough excitement and adventure for the night. They walked out of the party and into the night, breathing out a sigh of relief at the fresh air. They both laughed and wavered, shoving at each other playfully, as they walked away from the party. The loud boom of the music began growing fainter and fainter as they walked further away. Once the house was out of sight, they both grew silent, taking a break from the chaos of the party to process everything that had just happened to them.

“Bro?” Ray turned to look at Craig and saw that he had stopped walking. He stared at Ray with a peculiar look.

“Yeah, bro?”

“Thanks for supporting me, bro. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Ray chuckled. “It’s no problem, bro.” He clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Besides, I should be thanking you, bro. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Then, he shouldn’t have called you that, bro.”

Ray nodded. He understood why Craig had gotten so worked up and he was thankful for that he’d be willing to do so much for him. With the ease of their relationship, it didn’t take long for Ray to tell Craig that he wasn’t straight. Craig had taken the news well, readily accepting Ray for Ray. To him, Ray was his bro and he’d always be his bro.

“Bro, I doubt Chad had any idea that I wasn’t straight when he called us that. He was just trying to piss us off, bro. He’ll pay for it tomorrow morning anyway. With how much he drank, he’ll definitely be regretting it, dude.”

“Still,” mumbled Craig, “it wasn’t cool, bro. I didn’t want to him to get away with that.”

“I know, bro. I know. But it’s done now.” Ray put his arm around Craig’s shoulders and gave him a squeeze. “Let’s get home. We definitely need some rest after all of that.”

Craig chuckled and wrapped his arm around Ray. “Yeah. Definitely gonna be sleeping in tomorrow, bro.”

They pulled apart and continued walking. Both of them were silent for a moment before Craig broke it once again.

“Hey bro?”

“Yeah, bro?”

“I, uh, I,” he paused, “I, um, I...can’t wait to go to bed, bro. I’m so tired. Can’t believe that all happened, bro!

Craig laughed and patted Ray’s back as he wavered about. Ray laughed and shook his head, knowing that the alcohol was affecting Craig right now. He was surprised he was even able to walk home now, to be honest.

“I know, bro. I know.”

* * *

“And then after that, we went to more parties obviously. Craig did keg-stands at all of them as well, but I don’t think anyone was able to dethrone him until our senior year. By that time, Keg-Stand Craig was a pretty well known name though, so he still kept the nickname.”

“Wow.”

“I know. I know. It’s hard to believe,” nodded Ray. “I might spend my time sleeping and watching Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Ghost Truckers now, but I was pretty wild back then. Now my biggest thrill is when I get coupons in the mail.”

“No,” corrected Amanda, “I’m actually just shocked by how blind you were, Dad.”

“What? Blind?” Ray quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean blind?”

“Nothing. Just continue.”

* * *

Being neighbors, it was highly likely that Craig and Ray would run into Chad on a daily basis. The two roommates thought nothing about everything that had happened between them, assuming that Chad would either forget about it due to the vast amount of alcohol that he consumed that night or he would let it go because there were more important matters in life. They didn’t think Chad would actually get worked up over something like that since they hadn’t intended to piss him off and they hadn’t intended on winning either. But no, Chad didn’t forget and he didn’t forgive them.

The morning, well, afternoon after Kyle’s party, Craig and Ray awoke to find their front door spray painted with a giant dick. At first, they both thought it was a harmless prank from some of the other guys in the hall and laughed it off. It wasn’t uncommon for things like that to happen, but one look down the hall made them realize that their door was the only one that had been targeted. This first clued them in on the fact that it had to be someone they knew, but Chad still wasn’t high on their list of suspects, so Craig and Ray shrugged it off, left to figure out how to get rid of the giant dick.

The few days after that, the roommates awoke to a foul odor that made Ray throw up three times before he thought to grab one of the few clean towels to use as a makeshift face mask. They thought that maybe they had left something for too long in the fridge, but no amount of rotten food could’ve been that awful. It took nearly three hours of searching, but they finally found a questionable sack filled with unsightly things in their air vent that they then promptly got rid of. There was a bit of a debate between the two since Ray believed that he saw a half decayed chicken in there while Craig believes he saw a heart of some kind, but either way, they both agreed that these pranks weren’t just pranks, but something intended to make their lives miserable.

Seeing as how Craig and Ray pretty much had Kyle’s upperclassmen status to protect them, they knew not that many people would be ballsy enough to pull this kind of shit with them and the only that both of them could think of was Chad. Both of them wanted to get back at him, but they also knew they didn’t want to sink to his level yet. They weren’t happy with the pranks, but they weren’t anything too bad so far. Maybe Chad just needed to get this out of his system before moving on, so Craig and Ray let it go, deciding to be the bigger person.

After that, they both thought they were in the clear since they had woken up just fine and nothing seemed to be amiss within their room. Things carried along as usual for the two roommates, until Craig left to run to the store, but then promptly returned a few seconds later, an irritated expression on his face.

“You okay, bro?” Ray asked tentatively.

Craig glared angrily, hands clenched into tight fists. “He fucking spray painted my car, bro,” he growled. “He fucking spray painted my car.”

“Bro.” Ray got up and walked over to Craig, arms open about to pull him into a hug. He didn’t need to ask to know that this was all Chad’s doing. “I’m so sorry, bro. We’ll get it-”

“Hold on, bro,” interrupted Craig. Ray paused mid hug and awkwardly lowered his arms. “There’s more.”

“Oh no.”

“Yeah. Great, right?” said Craig sarcastically. “Yeah. Along with the spray painting, three of my tires were slashed and two of my windows were broken as well.”

“Bro.”

“But the best part though. The best part! That has to be the brown pile left in the driver’s seat that I have no doubt is actual shit! There is actual shit in my car, bro!”

“Bro, I’m so sorry.”

Ray finally got to give Craig the hug he had been meaning to give. He patted his friend’s back, doing his best comfort him, while Craig stood still, no doubt still glaring at the wall. Ray pulled away and gave Craig a sympathetic look.

“You need me to help you clean up your car, bro?”

Craig closed his eyes and took his breath. He shook his head. “No. It’s fine. I’ll do it, bro.”

“You sure, bro?”

“Yeah, bro.” Craig opened his eyes and turned to look at Ray. He took note of how much calmer Craig looked now. “But I do need your help with something, bro.”

Craig was confused for a moment, but quickly nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever you need, bro.”

“I need you to help me get him back, bro.”

* * *

“Glad to have you back, Keg-Stand Craig! Thanks for coming!” Kyle immediately pulled Craig into a bro hug the moment he saw him walk through the front door. He turned gave one to Ray as well. “And it’s good to see you too, Ray!”

Craig smiled. “Thanks for helping us out with this, Kyle.”

“Nah!” Kyle waved a hand dismissively. “I told you. Chad’s a douche anyway. What he did to your car wasn’t cool, so I don’t mind, man.”

Craig and Ray nodded. Around them, the music was already going and people were already drinking. They had decided to stop by a bit early to check and make sure that everything was set for their plan, but they hadn’t expected this many people to show up to the party already. From how calm Kyle was, they assumed that everything was running smoothly so far and everyone knew what their roles were. Feeling calm, it was all a waiting game before Chad arrived and things could get started. It was obvious when he showed up since he was already loud and brash to begin with, but Kyle made an even bigger scene, ensuring that Craig and Ray all knew when he had arrived. From across the room, they quickly moved to hide behind another group, watching as a few of Kyle’s friends immediately began offering Chad drinks, left and right.

Ray turned to look at Craig. He seemed calm, but Ray knew better. “Are you sure this is a good idea, bro?”

“Yeah,” said Craig. He lifted his cup to his lips and took another sip. Ray himself had been drinking to calm his nerves, but Craig seemed to be doing it for the heck of it. “Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear, bro. This is mainly soda anyway, so it’ll be alright.”

“That’s not what I meant, bro,” said Ray. “I mean, even if this works out, Chad might just be even more pissed off than before.”

“I know,” nodded Craig. “But he might stop too.”

Ray sighed and eventually, nodded. He knew Craig had a point and he also knew how stubborn Craig was. He was going to carry this out until the very end and the least Ray could do was support him throughout it, just like how Craig had done for him. He gave Craig a determined looked that was returned.

Turning back to Chad, they caught the eye one of one of Kyle’s friends. While Chad wasn’t looking, he quickly flashed them the signal they had been looking for and they made their way over. Chad wasn’t entirely drunk yet, but that was the plan. Seeing them coming over, Chad immediately frowned and then smirked. He didn’t realize that they already knew he was behind all of these pranks.

“What the hell do you two fags want?”

Ray could see Craig’s hand turn into a fist momentarily before he took a breath to calm himself. He then raised both of his hands and gave Chad an easy smile.

“I don’t want any trouble, dude. Just want an unofficial rematch.”

Chad scoffed. “A rematch? Why? Want to show off and ruin my chances of scoring again?”

“Nah. I just thought it was unfair since I found out that someone rigged the Keg Off, dude. I want a fair match this time.”

“What? Rigged?!” Chad stood up abruptly, getting into Craig’s face. Ray was already trying to put space between the two of them and some of Kyle’s friends were trying to pull Chad back as well. “You son of a bitch! I fucking knew there wasn’t anyway some piece of shit like you could’ve beaten me! I fucking knew it!”

“Hey. Woah. Calm down. I didn’t rig it, dude. I swear. I just found out from someone afterwards. That’s why I’m here for a rematch. Just wanted it to be fair this time, dude.”

“Really? A fair match, huh?” Chad crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “And why should I believe that? What if you and your fag bro rig it again, huh?”

“I’ll let you pick, dude. You can pick anything you want. We don’t have to do a Keg Off. We can do something else.”

From the corner of his eye, Ray could see Craig standing up straighter, taller. He knew Craig wasn’t happy about Chad’s usage of the slur again, but he showed no signs of being bothered by it. He had to commend Craig’s ability to remain calm in this situation. Ray had already gone through a few drinks to try and calm his nerves, and even then, with Chad’s shitty personality, there was still a possibility that he wouldn’t have been able to control himself and punched Chad himself.

Chad was currently pondering Craig’s offer. He studied him carefully, trying to figure out if he was lying or trying pull one over on him, but Craig kept calm. He moved onto Ray who was doing his best not to fidget too much, but Chad didn’t seem to care. He looked back towards his friends who pushed him to accept.

“Yeah! Come on, Chad! You got this!”

“Man, I knew something was off about the Keg Off! It’s your chance to prove that you’re the real champ, Chad!”

“Do it, Chad! Do it!”

“Alright. Alright. Fine, man.” Chad turned to them and nodded. Craig smiled. Step one of the plan was complete. “I accept your rematch offer. Just don’t be too sore when you lose this time.”

“That’s fine, dude. Just pick your match.”

Ray glanced over at Craig nervously. He still looked calm, but Ray knew he was nervous too. Hopefully, Kyle’s friends were able to subtly influence Chad enough that he’d pick the response that they wanted. If not, well, it wasn’t the best, but they’d make it work and hopefully, it’d all be okay. After a beat, Chad finally smirked at them. His confident was clear.

“Drinking match. Vodka.”

_ Perfect _ .

“Alright. You’re on, dude.”

* * *

Chad kept the match simple, which was expected given his inebriated state. Both of them would drink as much vodka as they could and first to pass out or forfeit would lose. Chad was confident he’d win this time since he knew he definitely had a higher tolerance for alcohol than Craig did. Craig pretended to be confident as they made their way into the kitchen, where the rest of the alcohol was, but he and Ray both shared knowing works. They’d let Chad chug as much as he could while Craig would go at a slower pace. He’d then drink three bottles, enough to make it seem like he was trying, but not enough to get him completely wasted, before stopping and stating that Chad was the winner and that anymore would cause him to puke.

It was almost comedic how bad Craig’s acting was when it came to the drinking, but Chad didn’t seem to notice, already too drunk to tell the difference. The rematch soon came to an end with Chad yelling and gloating in Craig and Ray’s face, but neither of them cared because they still had the rest of the plan and the end of that would be even better than any victory. So wrapped up was Chad in his revelry that he didn’t notice when Craig and Ray quickly slipped out of sight and into the crowd.

“You alright, bro?” Ray asked.

The drunken college students and loud music blocked them from Chad. Craig nodded, but he had a hand placed on the wall near them and another on Ray’s shoulder. Ray could see that he has having some trouble staying awake and oriented.

“Yeah. Yeah, bro,” mumbled Craig. He suddenly let out a loud burp, the smell of alcohol evident. “Oh god.”

“Craig, bro, maybe we should-”

“No. Don’t. We’re going through with this, bro. Just need a quick break that’s all.”

Craig gave Ray a stern look. Ray nodded, but he was still wary about how his friend was doing, watching him carefully. Leaning Craig against the wall, Ray quickly went to grab some water and chips to try and help him sober up. Maybe three bottles had been too much, but it was too late to worry about that now. They sat around for a some time as they waited for the next part of their plan to arrive. They grew worried with every passing minute, but soon enough, a girl approached the two of them, a bright grin on her face. Craig and Ray both sighed with relief.

“Hey. Thanks for helping us, Court. It means a lot to us,” said Ray. Both he and Craig knew they were asking a lot when they had asked Courtney, the girl that Chad thought he had a chance with, to help them out, but Courtney was all too ready to help them with their payback plan.

“It’s no problem. You guys helped me out with Chad last time, so it’s the least I could do.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of keys, handing them over to Ray with a smile. “Good luck with everything, guys. From the looks of it, he won’t notice that these are missing for awhile.”

“Thanks again, Court.”

“Thank you!”

Craig and Ray both waved to Courtney as she disappeared into the crowd again. Ray looked over at Craig. He was still not completely alright due to the alcohol, still a bit wobbly and delirious, but he smiled brightly when he saw the key reflecting light in Ray’s hand.

“Bro.”

“Bro.”

The two of them high-fived each other. They scrambled to get up from their spot near the wall and slipped through the crowded house quickly, making their way into the night and back to their dorm.

* * *

“Bro, we should go in through the window.”

Ray looked at Craig with a scandalized look as they raced up the stairs towards their floor. He expected Craig to be joking around and they would laugh about it, but Craig looked serious about his suggestion.

“Bro, you know we have the key, right? That was part of your plan.”

Craig gave a loud gasp and stopped mid step. Ray had to laugh as Craig stared at him with wide eyes.

“We do, bro?!”

Ray laughed even more and nodded. “Yeah, bro. It’s fine.”

“Woah,” muttered Craig. He nodded dumbly before continuing up the stairs. Ray shook his head at how drunk his roommate was, but hey, at least he hadn’t passed out yet.

They made it up the rest of the stairs without too much trouble and soon found themselves standing in front of Chad’s door. The key slipped in easily and Ray was soon faced with a familiar room. It looked the exact same as the day that he moved out, with dirty clothing, empty bottles, and old takeout containers strewn all about. The smell from those containers were bad enough to make them both gag, trying to block out the smell with their shirts. Sharing a look, they both nodded before Ray went across the hall to get the things they had prepared ahead of time.

It wasn’t long before Ray found himself trying to balance Craig on his shoulders as he securely taped one of Chad’s chair to the ceiling. With just the two of them, they decided against putting up some of the heavier objects, such as the bed, but they also decided to tape some of his forgotten clothing and figured it would be enough to get Chad to stop. It was taking longer than planned since Craig was still drunk, but he was doing well, given his current state. He was taping down Chad’s bedside stand when he heard an odd tapping noise. He looked down at Ray, thinking that it was maybe him, but Ray was just as confused as he was. Climbing back down, Craig and Ray searched around for the source of the tapping. It was Ray that soon made his way over to the window and realized that someone was trying to get their attention from outside. He quickly called Craig over and opened the window.

“Yo! Took you guys long enough!” Kyle called up from outside. “I’ve been trying to call you guys for the last 20 minutes! You need to hurry up and get out of there!”

“What? Why?” asked Craig.

“Chad noticed his keys are missing. Some of my guys are distracting him now, telling him to search the entire house, but he’s on his way back now. He’s trying to retrace his steps, so hurry up!”

Craig and Ray looked at each other with worried expressions before scrambling away from the window. Tripping over themselves, they quickly grabbed the cans of spray paint and bottles of glitter that they had brought along to finish the last few steps of their revenge plot. Ensuring that the air conditioning was off first, Ray climbed on top of the desk they hadn’t bother to put up and dumped all of the glitter into the air vent. They rushed to spray paint dicks of various sizes around Chad’s room, forgetting about the rest of the furniture. They hurried about as quickly as possible, leaving dicks on the walls, windows, and floors, but time was running out. Finally noticing the vibrations in his pocket, Ray pulled out his phone and realized that Kyle was calling again, no doubt telling them that Chad was getting closer.

“Bro, we gotta go! He’s coming up!”

Ray turned and head towards the door, keys in hand. He could hear Craig moving around behind him and thought he was following him, but he turned around curiously when he heard the sound of something heavy drop onto the floor and Craig struggling. He was met with the sight of a drunken Craig trying to grapple and pick up Chad’s mini-fridge.

“Bro, what are you doing? We gotta go!”

Craig shook his head adamantly. “Not without the fridge, bro.”

“Why do you want the fridge?!”

“Because I want it, bro!” He hugged the fridge to his chest as best as he could. “I want it!”

“We don’t have time, Craig! And what are we going to do with it anyway?”

Craig shrugged. “I don’t know. Fill it with more food for us.”

“Bro,” Ray sighed and shook his head, “really?”

“Yes, bro! Please!”

Ray sighed again. He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket again. Time was running out. Chad was no doubt coming up the stairs now. They needed to leave.

“Please, bro,” pleaded Craig. “Help me out.”

Ray gave an exasperated groan. He knew this was all because Craig was drunk right now and rationally, it was best to just drag him out of the room, but seeing how determined Craig was to get the fridge, Ray couldn’t say no. Rushing over, he saw Craig give him a smile before he picked up the fridge and walked out of the room. They were thankful for the fact that they were only across the hall from each other because it was in that moment that they heard a familiar voice.

“Where the fuck are my keys?!”

Chad’s yell was muffled by the fact that he was still in the stairwell, but they heard it, loud and clear. Sharing startled looks, Ray moved as fast as he could out the door, Craig following after him. Even though he knew Craig was drunk, Ray knew it would be faster for him to unlock their door and carry in the fridge, while Craig locked Chad’s door. The keys jingled about as they hurriedly fumbled with them like children. They could hear Chad getting closer. Ray got the door unlocked and quickly moved the fridge inside before returning for Craig. He had somehow managed to get Chad’s room locked, but he was frantically turning around in circles in the middle of the hallway.

“What do I do with the keys? What do I do with the keys?!”

Craig waved his arms about as he continued to scream and run about. Hearing the door to the stairwell opening, Ray grabbed the keys from Craig’s hands before chucking them down the hall, making it appear as if Chad had just dropped them on the way out. He then pulled Craig into their room, slamming the door shut and locking it quickly before Chad could catch them. Worried that any kind of movement would give them away, the roommates remained frozen by the door, watching each other with concern.

“See, man, I told you. You just dropped them. That’s all.” Kyle’s statement was immediately followed by a number of other guys telling Chad the same thing.

“Yeah, but I coulda sworn that I drove over, dude. I totally had them with me then.”

“Nah. I think that’s just the alcohol talking, man. You just dropped them.”

Ray and Craig waited patiently, listening as the group outside their door moved further away. Unable to stand any longer, Craig suddenly collapsed to the ground, next to the fridge that Ray had hastily set down earlier. Ray looked over in panic, worried that something was wrong, but was met with the sight of Craig with a hand placed over his mouth as he did his best not to laugh, giddy with excitement. They heard the sound of the door to the stairway closing shut and Ray immediately collapsed with a sigh of relief, joining Craig next to the fridge. Leaning against the fridge, Ray and Craig both looked at each other over the top of it and broke out into peals of endless laughter.

“I can’t believe we did it, bro!” struggled Ray. “We fucking did it!”

“Yeah, bro! Yeah! Whooooo!”

Craig tried to sit up straight, but fell against the fridge again. Ray laughed even more at this.

“It’s all because of you, bro! You came up with the plan and it worked! It fucking worked, bro! Chad’s going to be so fucking pissed tomorrow!”

“Nah, bro! It was all you! I couldn’t have done it without you, bro!”

They both laughed and cheered, attempting to high-five each other, but ended up just patting each other’s shoulders instead.. Everything worked without a hitch and Chad wouldn’t have any clue about it until the next day. They soon fell silent as they sat on the floor, the fridge acting as a minor barrier between them as they both leaned on it for support. It was still surreal to them that they had somehow managed to make this all work out.

“Hey, bro?”

Ray looked over at Craig who was staring directly at him. “Yeah, bro?”

“I...I love you, bro.”

Ray smiled at this and Craig smiled as well. “Yeah, bro, I love you too.”

“Really?” asked Craig. He sat up straighter. “You mean it?”

“Yeah, bro,” nodded Ray. “You’re my best friend. Of course, I love you. You’re like a brother to me.”

“A...brother?” Craig’s smile faltered slightly, but he forced himself to continue smiling.

“Yeah, bro!”

“Oh...yeah!” nodded Craig. “Totally, bro!”

* * *

“Wow,” said Amanda. “That was...a rollercoaster.”

“Yeah,” sighed Ray. “Chad was pretty fucking pissed. His massive tantrum was what woke us up the next morning, but he never tried to prank us again. He knew we weren’t going to lie down and take it, so that was the end of that.”

“Yeah,” nodded Amanda. She then shook her head, mumbling something to herself that Ray couldn’t quite catch, but he did hear her say something along the lines of “so blind.” He still wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but continued with his story.

* * *

Not all of their adventures involved alcohol. Midway through their second year together, Ray recalled how one night, he was sleeping soundly after long day of exams and work, when he suddenly felt something tugging at his blanket.

“No, no, no! Don’t eat that!” Craig whispered harshly.

The tugging on his blanket stopped, but he then felt something pulling on his hair instead. Ray tried to ignore it, but after one particularly harsh tug, he awoke to find darkness. It took a moment, but he soon found himself face to face with a goat. Ray immediately shot up out of bed.

“What the-?!”

“Bro! I know this looks bad, but please stay calm!”

Ray looked over at Craig who was climbing in through their window. He fell onto the ground and groaned before getting up and running towards the goat. He was doing his best to pull the goat away from Ray’s bed, but the goat was stubborn on his quest for something to eat, so Craig ended up awkwardly hugging it as he tried to hold it back. He eventually got it to follow him and tied it to the one of the fridges they had in their room. It was now looking around the room curiously from his corner. Once settled, Craig walked back over to Ray.

“So there’s a goat in our room,” began Craig.

“I can see that, bro” said Ray as he continued to stare at the goat. “Why is there a goat in our room?”

“Well, you see…” Craig looked away sheepishly as Ray turned to stare at him.

“Are you drunk, bro?”

“What? No! Of course not!” exclaimed Craig. Ray gave him a skeptical look. “I swear! I’m not drunk, bro!”

“Then, why is there a goat in our room?”

Craig sighed. “I was coming home from the library when I saw the goat in the back of Chad’s truck. He just looked so sad there and no one was around, so I just...took him. Chad’s a douche anyway, so I didn’t know what he was going to do with him, but I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry, bro.”

“Okay,” Ray nodded slowly. “That still doesn’t explain why you brought him to our room and through our window.”

“I had to take him  _ somewhere _ ! I couldn’t just leave him outside at 2 in the morning, bro! It’s cold, so I decided to bring him inside,” exclaimed Craig. Ray rolled his eyes, but he knew Craig had a good point. “But I couldn’t exactly sneak him in through the front. It was enough trouble hiding Carl in our room last year, so I did the only thing I could think of and decided to go through the window. Thank god we live on the first floor now?”

Craig shrugged and smiled innocently. Ray sighed and shook his head. He looked over at the goat who was laying the floor and had given up on trying to escape. He turned to Craig again.

“Okay. So what do we do with him now, bro?”

Craig sighed in relief, smiling brightly. “Thanks for being cool with this, bro. I promise he’ll be gone by tomorrow. I’m gonna drop him off at the zoo or something tomorrow morning. I promise, bro.”

Ray shook his head and laid back down. “Just make sure he doesn’t make too much of a mess, bro.”

“I promise, bro. I promise!”

* * *

“That was certainly an interesting night. I honestly didn’t think it actually happened, until I woke up to find the goat eating through one of my shirts. But Craig got him to the zoo and he was okay after that.”

Ray fell silent as he tried to recall some other memories. Amanda nodded and remained silent as well. Ray could see that she was deeply pondering something and let her be, turning back to his work for a moment. He continued typing away for a few minutes before Amanda spoke up again.

“So what happened between you two?”

“What do you mean?” asked Ray. He didn’t bother turning away from his work.

“You guys sounded like you were really close back then. What happened? Why’d you guys drift apart?”

Amanda watched as her dad’s fingers freeze. She could see his expression going blank as the searched his memories for an answer. She wondered if she had asked something wrong and was about to apologize when Ray turned to face her again.

“I...hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest. It just sort of...happened.” He sighed. Amanda remained silent. “Some time, during our third year together, we just...grew apart. Craig started dating Smashley that year and both of us had dated other people before that, but nothing ever changed between us until Smashley. Craig just started spending more time with her and I backed off. I guess I just understood that he had more to his life than just me, so I let them be and we drifted apart.”

Amanda nodded understandingly. “You really loved Craig back then, didn’t you?”

Ray gave Amanda an astonished look and was about to argue, but after talking about his college days with Craig and reflecting on them, he stopped himself and gave a small smile instead.

“I guess I did.”

Amanda got up from where she was sitting. She went over and gave her dad a tight hug. Ray was mildly confused, but returned it anyway, never one to turn down a hug from his daughter. The pulled apart and Amanda gave Ray a happy grin.

“I’m glad you two ended up together in the end, Dad.”

Ray chuckled. “Me too, Manda. Me too.”

Amanda turned and began walking out of the room. Ray went back to his work, but turned back when he saw Amanda pause in the middle of the doorway and turn back to face him.

“You know, you should talk to Craig about your college days together. You might learn something you didn’t know before.”

Ray quirked an eyebrow at this. “Like what?”

“Just something,” smirked Amanda.

“Mm hm,” nodded Ray. His eyes narrowed at the look on Amanda’s face.

“Just trust me, Dad. You two should talk about it together.”

With that, Amanda turned around and left to whatever it was she was supposed to be doing. Ray turned back to his computer and shook his head, muttering something about how cheeky Amanda was before going back to work. After a few minutes, Ray realized that his thoughts still remained on what Amanda had said and before he knew it, he was calling Craig, asking if they could meet up later tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so very much for all of your support and kindness!
> 
> [dangcommaannie.tumblr.com](http://dangcommaannie.tumblr.com/)


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